Hope for COPD

Website Makeover As some of you might remember, Hope for COPD has a website. One that hasn't been used for several months. One that, I, the creator, have no idea how to beautifully create. LOL This is why it has not been promoted. Some months ago, I started working with a great company and learning a lot from them. I was hoping to have them work on my website. But, then when it came time I was told they don't work on general sites like mine, and that the $20000.00 would most likely be out of my budget. Boy where they right! So, I have come up with some new ideas, and been playing around with the site off and on since then. Hope for COPD went from being a small thing... A few hours a week spend reading COPD related research and articles and blogging and tweeting about them... To a full time job, with countless hours spend each week researching relevant content and scheduling tweets, interacting with my Twitter followers and Facebook group. And, I LOVE it! I am so ha...

Addressing Mental Health Before Stage 4 (#B4Stage4)  When we think about cancer, heart disease, or diabetes, we don’t wait years to treat them. We start before Stage 4—we begin with prevention. When people are in the first stage of those diseases, and are beginning to show signs of symptoms like a persistent cough, high blood pressure, or high blood sugar, we try immediately to reverse these symptoms. We don’t ignore them. In fact, we develop a plan of action to reverse and sometimes stop the progression of the disease.  So why aren’t we doing the same for individuals who are dealing with potentially serious mental illness?  When you or someone close to you starts to experience the early warning signs of mental illness, knowing what the risk factors and symptoms are will help to catch them early. Often times, family and friends are the first to step in to support a person through these early stages. Experiencing symptoms such as loss of sleep, feeling tired for n...

May is Better Sleep Month Getting a restful nights sleep is essential to your health. For those with chronic illness, it may be a real struggle. Many, have trouble falling asleep, and staying asleep for a variety of reasons. I would venture to say most, but don't quote me.  What ever the reason, Americans are not getting enough sleep in general. If you have a chronic illness, it is just icing on the sleep thief's  cake. Some are "tied up" to an oxygen machine, cpap or bi-pap machine, making sleep less comfortable. Others suffer from chronic pain and that pain flares and awakens them frequently.  And, for some, medications may cause a disruption in your ability to get to sleep and stay asleep. Many have minds with no off button. When your mind is constantly on, you can't relax and get some sleep. Many of your thoughts are about bills, tasks that need completed at work or home.  The vast majority of retail workers never have t...

COPD Unaware A guest post by Duke Reeves  Despite the advances in medicine and technology, COPD rates and the financial burden of COPD continue to rise. While part of the rising rates can be attributed to a growing population, the bottom line is that the majority of COPD cases are preventable through awareness and education.  The most common symptoms and signs of COPD are shortness of breath, chest tightness, coughing up mucus, and a chronic cough. Looking at these symptoms, it’s easy to see how we can brush them off and assume they are from a common cold or old age. However, by brushing these symptoms off we are setting ourselves up for a potentially rude awakening. COPD is a progressive disease which means the longer it goes untreated the more damage it’s going to cause. The best way to ensure you live a full life with COPD is by catching the disease as early as possible. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) predicted COPD would become the 3 rd leading cause of...